Injured in a car or other accident, what should I do?
The first few days after an accident are the most important for finding and preserving evidence of what happened — and documenting your injuries. You should take the following steps as soon as you are able, to make sure your personal injury claim is as strong as possible.
Return to the Scene
If an accident occurred somewhere other than in your home, return to the scene as soon as possible to locate any evidence and photograph any conditions you believe may have caused or contributed to the accident. You may be amazed to find something you were not aware of when the accident occurred but which may help explain what happened, like a worn or torn spot on which you fell or a traffic light that isn’t working. Also, while looking around you may find someone who saw what happened or knows of other accidents that happened in the same spot.
Take photographs of the accident scene from a number of different angles — particularly your view of things right before the accident — to keep a good picture of it in your mind and to give to the insurance company later on to indicate how well prepared you are to get the settlement you deserve. Photograph the scene at the same time of day as your accident occurred, and for vehicle accidents, the same day of the week, to show the appropriate amount of traffic.
Protect Physical Evidence
Fault for an accident is sometimes established by a piece of “physical” evidence — something you can see or touch, as opposed to a description of what happened. Examples include a broken stair that caused a fall, the dent in a car showing where it was hit, or an overhanging branch that blocked visibility on a bike path.
In addition, physical evidence can help prove the extent of an injury: Damage to the car can demonstrate how hard a collision was, for example, and torn or bloodied clothing can show your physical injuries dramatically. Try to preserve any physical evidence exactly as it was at the accident. If you can’t preserve the actual object, take photographs of it. You can later show your evidence to an insurance company as proof of what happened.
BLACK BOX DATA
The term “black box” generally refers to an electronic device that monitors and stores information about vehicle operation, including the operation before, during, and after a collision. The black box resides in the vehicle’s Electronic Control Unit (ECU), which controls the air bags. Black boxes are formally referred to as “crash data recorders” (CDRs) or “event data recorders” (EDRs).
Most vehicles are now equipped with EDRs, which record and provide a variety of information. The specific information recorded depends upon the vehicle manufacturer, but often includes information concerning speed, brake use, seat belt use, and the time of air bag deployment. In addition to being used in cars and trucks, EDR usage in planes and trains has been longstanding.
Several manufacturers now use these black boxes voluntarily. Generally, if a vehicle is equipped with an air bag, important crash information likely is recorded.
BLACK BOX INFORMATION
Black boxes do not provide written information as to exactly what was occurring at the time of an accident. Instead, their information is stored in binary code (as sequences of zeroes and ones). As a result, it’s important that a technician be hired in order to understand the black box data. Experienced technicians can also be valuable for providing information concerning the validity of black box data, as often events can occur or other matters that may exist that affect the accuracy of the data. This experience is crucial when someone may try to exclude black box evidence at trial.
PRESERVING BLACK BOX INFORMATION
If you’ve been injured in a car accident , contact a consumer law firm immediately so they can act promptly to preserve the vehicle’s black box and the information it contains, particularly as black box ownership issues often can play a part in litigation. It is critical to prevent black box data from being destroyed, and to ensure that evidence is properly collected during the black box download process.
Some have been known to download the data quickly and without the car accident victim’s consent. To avoid this from occurring, your lawyer may file a motion for a temporary restraining order for black box data if necessary to preserve this evidence. Your attorney can then ask the defendant’s lawyer for a joint inspection of the vehicle, with an expert hired on your behalf present. This is an effective way to preserve the data and to prevent the potential destruction of key evidence.
Your lawyer can direct opposing counsel and all parties that may have custody of the vehicle (the towing company, insurance company, auto repair shop, and the like) not to move or repair the vehicle, remove its black boxes, or retrieve or attempt to retrieve the black box data. This ensures an unbroken chain of custody for the automobile data recorder and the data it contains. Your case may suffer if this data is compromised or destroyed.
Taking Good Photographs
Here are some tips for preserving evidence with photographs:
Use a high quality camera with the date stamp /recording feature on and accurate, or use your Iphone or other phone camera.
Take a number of photos from different angles so that you can later pick out the ones that show most clearly whatever it is you want to highlight to the insurance company.
Take the photos as soon as possible so that they will accurately represent the condition of the evidence immediately after the accident.
Be sure to establish the date, and record a friend or relative stating on camera that they saw you take the photos or video and stating the date and time.
Locate Witnesses
A witness to an accident can be immensely valuable to you in making your case to an insurance company. Witnesses may be able to describe things about an accident that confirm what you believe happened, backing up your story. Also, they may provide you with information you were not aware of but which shows how the other person was at fault. Even a witness who did not actually see the accident may have seen you soon after you were injured and can confirm that you were in pain or discomfort. Alternately, a witness may have heard a statement made by another person involved in the accident indicating that someone other than you was at fault.
However, time is of the essence. If witnesses are not contacted and their information confirmed fairly soon after the accident, what they have to say may be lost. People’s memories fade quickly, and soon their recollections may become so fuzzy that they are no longer useful. Also, a witness might no longer be around if you wait too long; people move frequently.
Document Your Injuries
The best ways to preserve evidence of your injuries are by promptly reporting all of them to a doctor or other medical provider, and by photographing any visible marks, cuts, bruises, or swelling, including any casts, splints, bandages, or other devices.
Without an early medical record of all your injuries, and photos if possible, it will be more difficult to later convince an insurance company that you were injured in the ways and to the degree you claim you were. Visible injuries heal and will not look as serious later, and failing to seek immediate treatment can lead an insurance company to believe that your injuries were not so serious, or even that you invented or exaggerated them after the accident.